It was founded as
Canadian Colonial Airways on 6 March 1928 to operate Foreign Air Mail Route No. 1 (FAM-1) from New York to Montreal via
Albany, New York. Services began to Canada on 1 October 1928, in conjunction with
Canadian Colonial Airways, Ltd. its 100%-owned Canadian subsidiary. The
Fairchild FC-2 was among the aircraft types used. Pursuant to the
Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, the
Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) of the United States certificated the US version of the airline as a United States scheduled airline on January 9, 1940. Thereafter, the
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which succeeded the CAA in 1940, regulated Canadian Colonial Airways as a
trunk carrier. However, the CAB refused a foreign carrier permit for the Canadian subsidiary to operate to the US and directed it to cease flying to the US. The Canadian subsidiary ceased operations on June 30, 1942. After acquisition by a group of investors, the airline was renamed
Colonial Airlines on 30 April 1942. It also offered a DC-3
puddle jumper flight from LGA making an 11:50 am Monday–Friday
flag stop at Poughkeepsie's
Dutchess County Airport en route to
Montreal and
Ottawa, Canada, with intermediate stops at
Albany, New York,
Rutland, Vermont, and
Burlington, Vermont. ==Merger with Eastern Air Lines==